A suspect was arrested Wednesday after police last week sought the public’s help in tracking down a man accused of raping a 16-year-old girl he followed from Long Beach to South Los Angeles, officials said.
Terry Edward Scott Jr., 45, was booked on suspicion of rape and kidnapping the victim in the Sept. 26 attack. He was already on probation for a narcotics offense and was being held without bail, the L.A. Police Department said in a news release.
Scott had approached the teen multiple times on a Metro platform in Long Beach before following her onto the train, where the girl moved to a different car to avoid him, investigators said.
But Scott allegedly found the girl on the other train car and tried to strike up a conversation, but she ignored him and then asked him to leave her alone. He then transferred to the same Metro bus as the victim, according to LAPD.
When the girl got off the bus in Historic South-Central and began walking home, Scott is accused of grabbing her by the neck and forcing her behind an apartment building, where he allegedly raped her. Detectives say he also threatened to kill the victim at one point.
LAPD released surveillance images of the attacker four days after the assault and video of the man the following day in hopes of generating leads.
In announcing the arrest Wednesday, the agency said it was “made possible due to several tips from the public and media coverage.”
Scott is scheduled to be arraigned in the case Friday, officials said.